U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth to run for fourth term in 2012

Democratic U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth of Louisville said he was so eager to announce he would seek a fourth term next year that he wanted to file his re-election papers last week.

But 2012 candidates in Kentucky can’t file their papers with the Secretary of State until Nov. 9.

Yarmuth, first elected in 2006, said he wanted to counter rumors that he might not run again. Some questioned his 2012 intentions after his fundraising total of $34,000 for the second quarter (April through June) was among the lowest for incumbents in the country. Roll Call mentioned Yarmuth in a story last month about troublesome signs for congressional Democrats.

“I’m definitely going to run,” he said at 0:35.

Yarmuth said on Pure Politics on Thursday he was deferring to Gov. Steve Beshear and other Democratic candidates running in this fall’s election when it comes to asking for political dollars.

“We decided to wait. And we started in this quarter actively fundraising,” he said at 1:15. “We have several events planned. And I think we’ll have a much more impressive quarter than we have had.”

Watch the video to find out how much Yarmuth expects he’ll have to raise in the 2012 election cycle: